State agriculture officials said they have no plans to again use aerial spraying to eradicate the light brown apple moth Friday after releasing their final environmental report on the pest.
The environmental impact report, which includes 1,000 pages of public comments and agency responses, does include aerial spraying as one alternative. But officials said they still prefer to disrupt moth mating with chemically laced twist ties. Eventually they plan to also use sterile moths that can help reduce the moth population.
"We still believe we can eradicate it with the preferred tools," said Robert Leavitt, acting director of pest prevention for the California Department of Agriculture.
Nan Wishner of Stop the Spray East Bay, a group that has criticized the state's 2007 aerial spraying over Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, called Leavitt's comments on spraying "ambiguous at best." She noted that the latest report contains large rural areas of the Bay Area, including Sonoma County, that are marked as potential areas for aerial spraying.
More than a third of Sonoma County vineyards have come under quarantine in an effort to control the moth's movement, though to date farmers have still been able to move their crops to market.
Leavitt stressed that the department will hold public meetings in those areas where it plans to use the twist ties or sterile moths.
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